Biman selected for handling ground services at HSIA 3rd terminal

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is finally getting the task of handling ground duties at the newly built third terminal at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) for two years.

“We have received a letter containing these instructions, but an agreement has yet to be signed. Drafting of the agreement is going on. Once it is finalised, we can come up with more details,” Bosra Islam, general manager of Biman’s Public Relations Wing, told the Daily Sun.

The interim government has informed the national flag carrier about giving responsibility, alongside specific deadlines and performance conditions.

On 24 October, Md Ali Azam Al Azad, director (Investment Promotion) of the public-private partnership (PPP) authority of the Chief Advisor’s Office issued a letter informing Biman regarding the decision.

Ali Azam Al Azad said, “Under the Concession Agreement for Terminal 3, Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited will provide ground handling services for both passengers and cargo of the third terminal.”

“For this, a Service Level Agreement (SLA) will be executed between Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited and the Private Sector Partner (PSP),”

he added. The letter says that the chief adviser of the interim government approved the decision.

Ground handling usually involves issuing boarding passes to passengers, baggage handling, loading and unloading cargo and all types of aircraft services.

Biman had been angling to get the ground handling duties for the third terminal from the beginning. Now, the state-run company will be responsible for handling both passengers and cargo.

Biman has been handling ground services at all airports in the country since 1972. Besides its own flights, Biman also provides ground handling services for 30-42 domestic and international airlines, which generates a major part of its revenue.

However, there have been complaints against the airline, including theft of luggage from the airport, mishandling of luggage and luggage handling delays.

On 2 September this year, some 6,800 Euros (about Tk9,10,000) was stolen from the bag of a passenger on a Chennai-bound flight. Five people were arrested and handed over to the police in the incident.

Due to such incidents, a discussion of giving ground handling responsibilities of the third terminal to a Japanese company took place but after a long review, the decision was made in favour of Biman.

Bosra, also the spokeswoman of Biman, blamed the airport’s infrastructural limitations for the complaints raised against Biman’s ground handling.

“The complaints that are being raised against Biman are not all its responsibility as there are also infrastructure constraints,” she said, adding that these issues will be focused on by the regulatory body as Biman has bought all equipment and is recruiting necessary manpower. It will also try its best to resolve the problems after receiving responsibility for the third terminal.

A source at the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said that a survey on the airport’s ground handling and passenger services was carried out during the construction of the third terminal. Around 93% of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with Biman’s ground handling.

Former CAAB chairman Air Vice Marshal Md Mofidur Rahman expressed doubt about Biman’s capacity and CAAB may fall into a critical situation if Biman is given the responsibility.

“The government has to repay the loan taken for the third terminal construction from the revenue earned from it. Failure of ground handlers may lead to revenue shortfalls. The CAAB will get into trouble with this in the future as Biman may not provide the expected service with the current capacity,” he said.

However, Biman announced various initiatives to enhance the ground handling capacity of the third terminal, according to a press release on 9 October.

As part of enriching the fleet and increasing capacity, state-of-the-art equipment is being purchased. To improve the ground handling capacity, machinery purchases worth around Tk1,000 crore have been undertaken in various phases, several of which have been added to the fleet.

State-owned Biman currently has about 2,000 motorised and manual machinery in its ground support equipment (GSE) fleet apart from 26 belt loaders.

The airline says it is also buying high-loaders, container pallet transporters, air-conditioned vans, passenger stairwells, water carts, flush carts, aircraft medical lifts and other equipment.

GSE department’s capacity has been enhanced through recruitment and training of GSE operators, mechanics and procurement of new equipment centred on the third terminal, it says.

Biman claims it has reduced the time for passengers to receive their baggage. In addition, 100 employees have been appointed to increase the manpower for airport services and the process of recruiting more manpower is running.